Afternoon in the garden

We spent about an hour in our small garden picking green beans (third
time), yellow squash, eggplant, and sweet chiles. Haven't gotten a ripe
tomato yet. I suspect it's due to all the rain we've been getting and
very little sunshine. We have zucchini plants nearly three feet tall,
the climbing beans are almost two feet taller than the four foot tall
netting, and the eggplant are nearly past five feet tall. With all that
water and lots of good compost mixed into the bed before planting they
are going wild.
The brown crowder peas aren't climbing yet but have leaves as big as
saucer and some even larger but no blooms yet. The Hopi red lima beans
are making beans now and still blooming like crazy so it won't be long
before we pick those.
My old Ames Garden Buddy has bit the dust, my daughter gave it to me at
Christmas about ten or twelve years ago and it just can't handle my big
behind any more. Bought a deluxe tractor scoot from Amazon and it came
in today so I put it together. Hope it lasts at least as long as the
Garden Buddy. As a matter of fact I hope I last that long. <G>
Looks like rain again.

Wish we would get some more rain. Have had to water some of the
plants. The summer garden is getting off to a late start. Tomatoes
were set out 5/7, the peppers on 5/15 and the cukes and zukes
yesterday. Still have to set out acorn and butternut squash and
watermelon. I may plant some green beans in one of the raised beds
The asparagus and rhubarb are still going, as are the weeds.
Strawberries have started ripening. Some of the fruit trees look like
they will having a good crop. My Petit Pois are blooming and setting
some peas, finally. Blueberries are almost ripe and plentiful. Must
get them netted before the birds find them.
Heading to the Farmers Market later this morning. Hope to find
something interesting to eat. If not, will stop at the curb market
and see what they have. DH bought a cantaloupe there yesterday that
is huge and smells almost ripe.

We hit the supermarket yesterday and they had some huge white, wrinkled
skin cantaloupes for sale. We didn't buy one because it was way to big
for two people but we saw them going out of the store in pairs. I asked
the lady ahead of us in line for check out what they tasted like. She
didn't know as it was the first one of these she had bought and she
bought two of them. These things were almost as big as a soccer ball so
there must be plenty of meat in them.
Supermarkets here in Houston area get fruit from all over North,
Central, and South America so the cantaloupe could easily be an import.
I am old as I remember in the forties my Dad going down to the docks
when the banana boats came in and buying a stalk. Mom wouldn't let him
in the house with it until he checked it for snakes and spiders. The
whole stalk hung in a dark closet so they wouldn't all ripen at once and
we devoured them until they were gone. Seldom say any fruit in local
grocery stores, most of which were owned and operated by European
immigrants who came there in the teens and twenties and had little hole
in the wall stores. About the only other fruit we got was figs, pears,
muscadines, and satsumas, which grow well in SE Texas as do most citrus
fruit. My grandparents would be astounded at modern supermarkets if they
were still around. Heck, I'm often astounded at the plethora of foods
they stock and I read labels too. There a few countries that we don't
eat food from there.
Big birthday party this afternoon, DW hit 75 this week and two great
grands hit 12 so a family birthday party. I just baked a cake for DW and
yesterday made a large Anasazi bean casserole with sausage, rice, sweet
chiles, onions, and garlic. We had a small bit of it for dinner and I
like the Anasazi beans, they're a small pinto but very tasty.
I'm also prepping to can another four pints of green beans.

Amazon carries them as does Walmart, the local Kroger Marketplace here
has them in stock also. Sometimes if you ask your grocer they will stock
them. Reportedly they give you 25% less gas than regular pinto beans.
I'm encouraging my middle grandson to ONLY eat Anasazi beans. <G>
Finished the green beans at 1000 and then took a nap, had another bad
night with my shoulder spurs giving me trouble. I guess I'm going to
have to have surgery but will put it off again if possible. I already
have enough surgery scars that people think I've been in a knife fight.
Getting old is hell but it sure beats the alternative.

:) you never know these days. :) do you have four
wheel drive, a reverse gear and mud flaps?

lucky for the drought in Texas finally getting a break from
all of these storms, with reserviors filling up again.
we've not seen much rain for the past few weeks, an inch
or so in three weeks is well behind normal. the ditch out
back is quite low for this time of year. i could almost
get in there and do some needed work on cutting brush back
and cleaning up a few things that have washed down from
upstream, but the water is still too cold...
songbird

The front wheels swivel so I can steer it, reverse gear is pushing
backwards with your feet and no need for mud flaps. I do like the
pneumatic tires versus solid tires, they will probably last longer. We
have a steel wagon with pneumatic tires that is 20 years old and the
tires are still good. We store such things in the garden shed, may get
hot in there but not direct sunshine.

Our cold water runs hot in the house for about two or three minutes when
turned on. Even with reflective foil under the roof and lots of
insulation the attic gets very hot.
Put up the four pints of green beans this morning, waiting for the
pressure canner to cool down now. Made a birthday cake for Miz Anne, got
side dish ready for family birthday for Miz Anne and two great grands.
Gonna be noisy and lots of baby kisses.

i thought mudflaps'd fit nicely with the dawg and the
gunrack... :)
i spray the tires on the wheelbarrows with some UV
protectant and that seems to help keep them from
degrading quickly.

sounds like some passive roof venting would help
there?

aww! congrats to you all on being happy and holding
together after all these years.
nothing put up here lately. friend said rhubarb was
good in the crumble and that she added apples and
cherries to it. i'd give it a whirl... haven't met
a crumble i didn't like.
songbird

Lots of that up there but still insufficient. I may put in a larger
solar vent soon.

As usual it was a very noisy party. Daughter, her husband, wife and I,
two neighbor kids, three grandkids, six great grands, one dog. Lots of
laughter, birthday songs, presents to open, baby kisses, and a very
large amount of good food including three birthday cakes.
Granddaughter's significant other has joined the Navy reserve and is
going to boot camp in August and he had to work today so didn't make the
party. One birthday each month until September when there's three more.
I think we have to many kids. Naw, we love them all.

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